


Symbolically or something

by Deputychairman



Category: due South
Genre: Domestic, Established Relationship, M/M, the Hand of Franklin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-11
Updated: 2014-09-11
Packaged: 2018-02-17 00:47:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2290817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deputychairman/pseuds/Deputychairman
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Because I was pretty busy with the <em>literal</em> side of the expedition - the sled, the dogs, the tent, and suchlike, but I'm glad to hear you had all its symbolic requirements covered -"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Symbolically or something

They read about it in the morning paper. Either the Terror or the Erebus, found off King William Island. There was even a photograph. Fraser held it up, wide-eyed, and then went back to reading the article.

Ray stood up and squinted at it over Fraser's shoulder - yeah, it was boat shaped, but really it could have been anything. It was kinda cool that they'd found Franklin, but not cool enough to go find his reading glasses when he had warm toast in his hand.

He took a bite of toast, brushed crumbs from where he'd dropped them in Fraser's hair and sat down again, but Fraser didn't seem to notice. He already had his glasses on - of course he did, they never had to turn the house upside down to find _Fraser's_ glasses. He was doing his version of scowling where his eyebrows went up and up and _up_ until they disappeared into his hairline. Someone else might of thought he was just mildly surprised, but Ray knew better.

"What, you didn't want anyone to find it?" he asked through a mouthful of toast.

"No, no, not at all. It's a historic discovery, Ray. It's really very - interesting."

"So you are making that face at the newspaper for a totally different reason?" Ray pulled the page towards him to check what else was there. "The...senate prostitution bill hearing gets you pissed?"

Fraser straightened it back up with a flick of the wrist and barely glanced at him.

"It does, actually, but as it happens I am not making a face at the newspaper."

"Yeah, right. Ok. Whatever you say."

Ray poured himself more coffee. He poured Fraser more coffee too, and Fraser didn't even say thank you, he was so busy making a face at the newspaper.

"You're welcome," Ray said anyway.

"What? Oh, thank you Ray."

Ray just looked at him until he sighed and took his glasses off.

"Well, alright, no, now that you put it like that I suppose I _didn't_ really want anybody to find it. I know it isn't as if _we_ were going to manage it, seeing as it's underneath 11 meters of water which only melts for 30 days a year, but I liked the...mystery of it." He rubbed at the bridge of his nose and gave a little shrug. "The idea that it was out there for anybody who wanted to go looking - like a sort of Holy Grail, if you will. I'm not sure the real thing can ever compare."

Well, that made sense. Ray was plenty fond of Canada and all things Canadian after all these years, but anything that got politicians so excited kinda made him suspicious. No way could it be as good as a story about a lost expedition that ate each other.

"Yeah, I get that," he said. "But it's not like we were _really_ looking for it - not properly, like, looking for your car keys looking."

Fraser blinked at him."Weren't we? Because I distinctly remember saying that we were. I remember _you_ saying that we were, that you wanted to go on an adventure and look for Franklin. We were trying to find the Hand of Franklin."

"Sure, ok, but I meant like, uh, symbolically or something. "

"Oh, we were looking for it symbolically?"

"Yeah." Ray looked him right in the eye.

"And how did we do that, exactly? If you remember, after all this time? Because I was pretty busy with the _literal_ side of the expedition - the sled, the dogs, the tent, and suchlike, but I'm glad to hear you had all its symbolic requirements covered -"

Ray raised his coffee in mock threat and Fraser obligingly broke off.

"Don't get smart with me, Mountie. It's like, uh, that Indiana Jones movie - no, it's like _all_ the Indiana Jones movies. He's looking for the thing, the, the - whatever, the holy something, but _really_ it's about how the Nazis are bad guys, and Indie being the good guy, and looking good in a hat - which was pretty important and which you've got covered for us -"

"Thank you, Ray."

"- you're welcome Fraser. And then, you know, he saves the kids from the mine, uh... makes up with his dad, and gets the girl. _That's_ what it's really about. Because the thing, whatever it is, they give it back or drop it down a crevasse or the government locks it up in a warehouse."

 Fraser was looking at him with his head on one side, like his summary of the Indiana Jones films was the most fascinating thing he'd heard all year.

"I had no idea those films had made such a lasting impression on you, Ray."

Ray shrugged.

"Yeah. Smart guys with hats, so I have a type," he worked extra hard and managed to get a scowl on the end. Fraser nodded politely like it was easy, but then he'd always had the best straight face in the business.

"So our symbolic search," he asked, all innocent. "Was it really 'about' something else, even if we didn't actually find the Hand of Franklin, or does the secondary meaning only apply to successful archaeology-based quests?"

Ray had always been impressed by the way Fraser pushed his own straight face to the limits. It was holding up, but his eyes were starting to crinkle and Ray figured if he played dumb for 30 seconds it was all over.

"I dunno. I mean, we didn't save any kids from mines - not that we couldn't have, but, y'know, it didn't come up, did it? I already made up with my dad. We _definitely_ didn't get any girls..."

"No, there was a distinct lack of girls which persists to this day," Fraser agreed.

"So yeah, maybe we were doing it wrong. But they only found one - there's another ship out there, we can go look for that one if you want."

" _Symbolically_ look for it, you mean, or _actually_ look for it?"

"Uh, depends what you got planned for today. I gotta be at the airstrip at 11, so I got an hour and a half, how 'bout you, Frase?"

"Ah, well, I have a meeting with Corporal Evans at 12, and I ought to shave before I go, so..." he glanced at his watch, "Yes, about an hour and a half for me too."

"Ok then!" Ray pulled the newspaper out of Fraser's hand and dropped it on top of his cereal bowl. "We're older than we used to be, but that's plenty of time if we start right away, right?"

This time he got the full benefit of Fraser's smile, and older or not, that was something he _definitely_ wanted to spend an hour and half with. Not so much out on the ice searching for things and sleeping in a tent any more: tents were all very well when you were on a quest, but for a symbolic-type quest - which, for Ray's money, was the best type of quest there was - nothing beat an actual bedroom with an actual bed, and central heating so the smart guy in a hat would take all his clothes off.

When Fraser stood up and put his arms round him, and just before he kissed him, Ray said, "I was trying to get something in there about how I didn't need to find Franklin's Hand because I found your ass instead" - he grabbed Fraser's ass to make his point, just in case it wasn't clear - "but you weren't working with me there, buddy."

"Sorry, Ray," Fraser said, kissing his neck instead. "If you want to take this into the other room, I'll do my very best to allow such an observation to come up in the natural flow of conversation..."

But he was tugging Ray into the bedroom, so when he said _natural flow of conversation_ , Ray figured he meant it _symbolically_ or something.

 

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't the fic I was supposed to be writing. But somebody found Franklin, and all my due South feelings overflowed. So this is the fic I wrote at work, sitting next to my boss, because I am a solid gold, grade A grownup with CHILDREN and a JOB and a MORTGAGE.


End file.
